Alton preservationist dies at age 89

“She was really responsible for saving a lot of our history,” said Alton Township Supervisor Don Huber, himself an avid historic preservationist.

“If it hadn’t been for her, we would not have a museum,” Huber said. She was one of the founders and continued to work on the Alton Museum of History and Art.

The museum is a nonprofit organization that opened in 1971 because Gill had a concern for preserving historic memorabilia connected to the city. She and the other founders also made it an art museum because there were no art galleries in Alton.

She was the president from 1984 to 1991 and was named president emeritus. She authored several books for the museum.

The museum is based at Loomis Hall, 2809 College Ave. on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Dental Medicine.

The museum also has space in the Wilhelm House adjacent to Loomis Hall and the Koenig House on East Fourth Street. The museum owns the Cole-Clark Carriage house and oversees the remodeled home of Robert Wadlow, the world’s tallest man.

On display at the museum is an 1837 newspaper, the Alton Spectator. The paper published an article about abolitionist editor, Elijah Lovejoy, who was murdered by a pro-slavery mob in 1837.

Gill held a bachelor’s degree in management and worked for the Defense Mapping Agency in St. Louis County. She retired in 1980 after 31 years.

She was founder of the Arsenal ’76 Chapter of Federally Employed Women, President of St. Louis Zonta Club, President of the American Society of Photogrammetry, Board Member of National Women’s Conference Center since 1979, founder of the Missouri Women’s Network in 1982, Co-Chair of the Equal Rights Amendment Caucus and Chair of the Shake Hands with History Committee.

She was also president of the Alton Women’s Council, Alton Area Historical Society, helped form two International Toastmasters Clubs in St. Louis and was one of the first women to be an Area Governor of Toastmasters.

She also served as the grand marshal of the Alton Memorial Day Parade, the oldest Memorial Day parade in the United States.

Her volunteer service garnered her many awards, including the YWCA’s Woman of Distinction Award, 100 Women of Substance, the Studs Terkel Humanities Award and the National Society of the DAR’s Historic Preservation Medal, among others.